Financial service providers, such as credit card companies, banks, and the like, issue financial service products (e.g., credit cards) both under their own brands and in partnership with other entities, such as product manufacturers or retailers (e.g., partnered financial service accounts such as private label credit cards). Merchants, such as retailers, have typically used these partnered financial service accounts to provide a direct marketing connection with their customers and track customer store purchases over time. Despite spending tremendous amounts of money and effort to market their products to consumers, merchants have a very poor understanding of “what works” and “what doesn't work.” Moreover, merchants cannot fully understand a particular customer's purchase motivations because they have little or no insight into how that customer behaves beyond the customer's purchase history using the partnered financial service accounts associated with the merchant. This is true at least because merchants typically lack the direct customer access and observational opportunities associated with powerful customer information like the customer's financial situation, personal interests, as well as real-time information such as current location.
There is therefore a need to address these and other issues faced by merchants (and similarly situated entities) who seek to gain a more developed understanding of their marketing efforts influence on their customer's purchases.